Madeleine McCann: Colette Douglas Home Spreads The Fear And Inside Irvine Welsh
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann, Gerry McCann
THE HERALD: “Do you want to see every parent in the dock?”
It’s Colette Douglas Home, professional Maddie opinion giver. And to answer her question: yes. Fingerprint them, photograph them and question them for 42 days. Only the guilty have anything to fear.
Fear:
You’ve got to admit, they shouldn’t have left the children unattended and gone out to dinner.” It was a colleague talking to me about Kate and Gerry McCann. He went on: “We go on holiday with a big group of friends but we’d never do that. We put the wee ones to bed and eat downstairs.”
“And do you check on them every half hour?”
“Yes. Well, we send the teenagers to do the checking.”
Fear:
I wonder if he realises how fortunate he has been. If something terrible had happened, can you imagine the headlines? They would probably say something like: “Teenagers checked on missing toddler while parents partied.”
Yeah, who cares that the children have been eaten by alligators, fallen down the plughole or hit the minibar and suffocated in their own vomit – it’s the media’s reaction to it that matters most.
And what of the McCanns, Colette’s favourite subject:
I imagined the fact that Kate and Gerry McCann are doctors would stand them in some regard, since they spend their lives trying to help others. I was wrong. I thought the clear evidence from family photographs that Madeleine was a happy, well-cared-for child would demonstrate that leaving her unsupervised was an aberration, not the norm. But I didn’t allow for jealousy and resentment.
Maybe people are just bored of the McCanns? But Colette cannot face that possibility:
So let’s think about that call for prosecution. If the McCanns are to stand in the dock, who should stand beside them? We can start with those who were on the same holiday and who didn’t hire a babysitter. Then what about all the other couples who have stayed at that or any family-friendly holiday village where they felt safe enough to leave the children unattended while they ate? What about people who eat in the garden on hot summer evenings while their children sleep in the house? What about parents who sleep indoors, maybe one night a year, while their kids sleep in a tent? If we apply these standards, the courts would be jam-packed.
What about them? The McCanns are not being prosecuted child neglect, child abandonment, nor for any other crime.
THE SCOTSMAN: “Crime and Punishment - Irvine Welsh”
Dave Robinson is in Saughton jail. For crimes againt journalism. Ho-ho:
I’M WALKING behind the Famous Author. He’s wearing trainers, a T-shirt, an expensive-looking grey-green leather jacket and is carrying a plastic bag. As I follow him, I’m thinking that the way people walk tells you something about them. The Famous Author walks like a fighter: self-confident, disciplined, head up. He doesn’t walk like a 50-year-old, though in a couple of months he will be one.
How close behind Welsh is Robinson? Close enough to smell him?
Welsh has written a book called Crime, HMP Edinburgh. But he nearly didn’t:
He’s talked to child-abuse survivors’ groups and handles the subject with uncommon sensitivity – so much so, in fact, that he gave up writing the book altogether when the Madeleine McCann story first broke. “Even approaching the subject tangentially seemed frivolous and stupid.”
His is work of fiction, the McCann case is one of fact. What has one to do with the other? The McCann case is a touchstone for a writer’s book, a stepping stone on the PR drive.
Posted: 29th, July 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (494) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
another quick in and out
July 29th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Jo, don’t mention clones or Mr Lucas will sue. And it’s a new action with clone!
July 29th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
gotta dash bbl
July 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
just_me, you might be on to something. We know what happens with brandon after a man goes to church.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Melanie
Ya mean,they”ve killed their clones?
July 29th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Scarlett…… another good old link!
http://www.anorak.co.uk/news/tabloids/173412.html
It does state in here (from Paolo Reis himself in Portugal) that Murat was under surveillance from May 4th.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Melanie
of course I dont work for the Nymph of the Westend lol 
July 29th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Scarlett Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Jo, are you the same Jo who posted this on Anorak?
********
I can never write more than 3 sentences in a row !!!!
I hate long posts
No…its not me
bb in a moment
July 29th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
“pulled a fireman I bet”
Do you work for the NOTW?
July 29th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
wheres brandon? pulled a fireman I bet lol
July 29th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Scarlett, interesting link. Where are those people now (apart from Jo). Have they fallen by the wayside or reinvented themself?
July 29th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
any news?
July 29th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
just_me, I steer clear of the fisticuffs. Glad the pool worked out ok. It is great in this weather to go home and have a dip…
July 29th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
This being the link (makes interesting reading)
http://www.anorak.co.uk/madeleine-mccann/173352.html#comments
July 29th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
firestar Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
dear m&a
i have been posting for ages now and not one of mine has gone missing as yet.
********
I personally have enter the guiness book of records for Pulled Posts
July 29th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Jo, are you the same Jo who posted this on Anorak?
1. jo Says:
May 15th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
thanks for some sense tom - lets look at the evidence then -
1 - this man was helpful because he was asked for help when a sky news journalist asked for help - i heard the jouranlist on sky news last night and he sounded terribly guilty for having dragged murat into it cos murat had been bringhing him and others water - but is that not the portuguese way? so this guy helped.
2. a tabloid journalist then found murat ‘creepy’ and was reminded of soham - oh right he must be guilty then.
3. people keep going on about his glass eye and living with his mother - uhuh? and? the future prime minister of this country has a glass etye too - doesnt meen hes a child abductor does it?
4. murat said he had a daughter same age and felt terrible - oh right - half this country or more feels the exact same - so we must all be implicated then?
5. the mother set up a stall outside the media to filed enquiries- well maybe shes guilty too - forget the fact that she actually lives there.
6. murat doesnt want media attention - well yes who would - guilty or not? its not pop idol after all.
the fact remains the portoguese police for better or worse are keeping silent on this so rumour is breeding rumour and the media r running around pouncing on anything - and in that heat who knows what mirage they will dream up.
the most disgusting thing i found so far of the way this guy was planted at the centre of the crime was that a childhood schoolfriend who now works as a schoolfriend eagerly spilt the beans about his glass eye, his party trick etc and the whole being ’shocked’ that he was implkicated tone of her whiny voice made me think oh my god i dont want you as a friend if im standing alone. she went on dishing gossip about this guy - and on what gorunds? she doesnt know, the world doesnt know if this guy is guilty and everything including his glass eye and having a daughter the same age is a reason to convict him? noone said they saw him with the little girl or anything like that - but from the coverage i heard on sky news last night, i dont think that man should be preseumed to be guilty on such flimsy, biased, tabloid accounts.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Ohh Melanie, I said duck because m.e was kind of challenging agw. Maybe I should have said ‘harry hill moment’ FIIIIIIIIIIIGHT lol.
Pool is fantastic thanks well worth all the hard work put in by loads of people, and a little help from me too lol.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
you should go to chesterfield, you hear the ‘duck’ comment at the end of every sentence.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
There’s a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)
July 29th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
just_me, I missed the DUCK comment and not sure what hit me. I think I have lost the flow….
How are you anyway? How is the pool coming along…
July 29th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
thats a great idea.
for every bag of horseshit i spread on my garden, i get to make 2 posts of the same, etc.
certain scottish gardens would come on a treat i bet.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
It’s a darned nuisance.
This lost posts lark.
The McCann’s don’t pay for lost posts…only properly posted ones.
Big hole in my paypacket this week.
MandA
Oh Matt we are so sorry, and your posts were so McC friendly too….
July 29th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
firestar Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
jo
Totally free from charges ?
must be the new Skype ‘McCann’ call plan
******
Cant you…arggghh…keep this big mouth of yours shut? jajajajaja
Yes,it is part of their long time project over a lost child,theirs apparently but hey! we”ve got to be understanding.they”ve suffered enough
I was just wondering about Ma…. ouch! m&a! okokok,wont say anything
I”ll go back to my Dolls production range then
I just invented 2 more: Doll Elena and Doll C&C
You”ve got to pay to have the brochure to make your orderS.
The brochure comes ,delivered hot air balloon with pink ribbons and instructions over how to go about missing children…err…you knô…..Loveley
July 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
firestar Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
i have been posting for ages now and not one of mine has gone missing as yet.
——————————-
Poor firestar; mine disappear into the cybervoid from time to time.
Perhaps we could have an offset scheme for old and valued posters, a bit like all those airlines who plant trees in Epping Forest to make up for yet another terminal at Heathrow…
July 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
i’m sure they’ll apologise as they blow you into the empty vacuum of the cybervoid.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
jo
Totally free from charges ?
must be the new Skype ‘McCann’ call plan
July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
m.e - you obviously have a very deep desire to be a kamikaze pilot ……
M and A
I wonder if his other hobby was wall of death
July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Julie Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
And in the left corner with a silly grin on her face, and eggs in her pocket, we have … Jo
In the right corner, with pen in hand, we have ….. C&C
SECONDS OUT!! Round No. 2 ……
******
…..and the winner is……..? JO,of course,phew….
Rotten eggs are the best…sshhh…its a secret
July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Jo,
Will they adopt me?
July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
One of mine has just gone missing too.
Not a child I hasten to add.
A post.
But I have reposted it now, more or less.